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September 18, 2024Metro Vancouver Green Economy Booming at 185,000 Jobs
C40 Cities shows more than 1-in-8 people in the region are working in the green economy, almost double the North American average.
PRESS RELEASE /Jun 25, 2024 – For Immediate Release
Today C40 Cities’ Co-Chair, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, released first-of-its kind analysis on green jobs across the networks mega-cities estimating that Metro Vancouver has over 185,000 green jobs.
The Zero Emissions Innovation Centre (ZEIC) Executive Director Melina Scholefield was quoted in the release saying: “The Vancouver region’s collective efforts on climate change over many decades have built an incredible foundation for our burgeoning green economy to take shape. In particular, our emphasis on building decarbonization means that we not only are building some of the highest efficiency buildings on the continent, but have a well-skilled, innovative sector that is pushing to ever-higher heights.”
This research, which shows that more than one-in-eight people in Metro Vancouver already have a green job, shows specifically:
• That Metro Vancouver has 116,000 “direct” green jobs, where people are doing a task, like installing a heat pump, with immediate environmental benefit.
• Another 68,000 in indirect green jobs, where people do supportive services, like accounting or education, in support of direct positive environmental benefit. • Metro Vancouver, at 13.5% share of green jobs across the region, is almost double the North American average of 8.5%.
• Construction is the region’s the largest green employer, with over 40,000 jobs in that sector alone, and another 29,000 in automotive sectors and the retail trade; and 28,000 in professional, scientific and technical services.
The centrality of Construction speaks to the relevance of ZEIC’s emphasis on building decarbonization through its programs; the Zero Emissions Building Exchange (ZEBx), the Building to Electrification Coalition (B2E), and the Carbon Leadership Forum of British Columbia (CLF BC). The findings of C40’s project also build on past work by the now-defunct Vancouver Economic Commission, which had measured 87% green job growth in the City of Vancouver between 2010 and 2020.
ZEIC’s new economic development team has supported this research and will be drawing on it as it builds out further research and programming later this year.
